Fic: Arc, Part Eleven
Jul. 1st, 2009 06:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jeriendhalFor the record, this was not in my original story outline.
Testimony of Deesix Whitepelt as presented to the Galactic Sapiens Alliance Truth and Reconciliation Committee, cont.
So Lili fell into her brother’s arms. I later learned my shot had severed her spine, then cooked off her lungs and heart. Energy weapons do that. They kinda boil and vaporize living tissue, not just neatly disintegrate it. She was dead in a couple of seconds. I’d never smelled anything like it, before or since. Overcooked, spoiled meat, that’s all she was then.
Please stop looking at me like that. She was going to kill her brother. I had my orders to stop her. I had to shoot her.
Marty just held onto her. It seemed like forever but it really was only a few seconds. The look on his face… You have to understand, I wasn’t really good with emotions back then, no one growing up on the Arc was. I’m still not, not really. It was the first time I’d ever seen grief on anyone. What made it worse was when he started talking to himself.
“Why is Lili dead?” he asked. At first I thought he was talking to me, but then he just kept going. “You said she would… Oh, I see.” Then he gave me the saddest smile and told me, “Metaphors. They can be tricky sometimes.” Then he burst out crying and just held onto his sister’s body. I could see a bit of his breast bone sticking out from where she had cut him, but he didn’t seem to notice that. The blood was pouring down the front of his coverall, staining her face where it rested. He kept trying to clean it off but it just sorta spread around. I had my gun pointed at him but he didn’t seem to notice it. I don’t think he would have cared just then whether I shot him or not.
I called on my com for station security to come meet me. The original plan had been to for them to be arrested with the rest of the rebels when we came out of the utility corridor. When Marty mentioned the name the Varn Society Shaper gave me, I basically panicked. I should have just kept my mouth shut. It wouldn’t have stopped what happened to me later, but at least Lili would still be alive.
Captain Barloch came up with a squad of security troopers with him. He was a creo, big, grey and heavy like they all are. I swear he… [laughs] It’s so strange the things that stick with you over the years. The one thing that always stood out for me about him was the fact that the man polished his head. It always looked like some kind of ball bearing. Anyway, he had a half-dozen troopers with him, which surprised me. The Arc was always a quiet place. Once and a while someone had a freak fit, but that usually just meant that they tried to airlock themselves or beat their head against the wall until a couple of us grabbed them and they got sedated for a trip down to Medical. You never saw more than one security trooper patrolling at a time. The only time I’d ever seen that many before was when had that big fire in one of the maintenance bays and they had to evacuate that whole sector.
Was he involved in any crimes? The whole damned station was a crime against sentients. I don’t know if he did anything personally, like kill anyone. If he ever did, I’m just as guilty.
Anyway, they come charging up and I hand over the gun to one of the troopers. They had a medic with them so the first thing they did after cuffing us both…
Yes, both of us. At the time I figured it was to cover up that I was going to be taken off the station. I was wrong of course. Anyway, after cuffing us both they slapped a nanopatch over that chest wound of his and hauled us both away to Station Security.
I don’t know what happened to his sister's body. They probably chucked it into the food recycler like everyone else’s was.
What?
TBC
Testimony of Deesix Whitepelt as presented to the Galactic Sapiens Alliance Truth and Reconciliation Committee, cont.
So Lili fell into her brother’s arms. I later learned my shot had severed her spine, then cooked off her lungs and heart. Energy weapons do that. They kinda boil and vaporize living tissue, not just neatly disintegrate it. She was dead in a couple of seconds. I’d never smelled anything like it, before or since. Overcooked, spoiled meat, that’s all she was then.
Please stop looking at me like that. She was going to kill her brother. I had my orders to stop her. I had to shoot her.
Marty just held onto her. It seemed like forever but it really was only a few seconds. The look on his face… You have to understand, I wasn’t really good with emotions back then, no one growing up on the Arc was. I’m still not, not really. It was the first time I’d ever seen grief on anyone. What made it worse was when he started talking to himself.
“Why is Lili dead?” he asked. At first I thought he was talking to me, but then he just kept going. “You said she would… Oh, I see.” Then he gave me the saddest smile and told me, “Metaphors. They can be tricky sometimes.” Then he burst out crying and just held onto his sister’s body. I could see a bit of his breast bone sticking out from where she had cut him, but he didn’t seem to notice that. The blood was pouring down the front of his coverall, staining her face where it rested. He kept trying to clean it off but it just sorta spread around. I had my gun pointed at him but he didn’t seem to notice it. I don’t think he would have cared just then whether I shot him or not.
I called on my com for station security to come meet me. The original plan had been to for them to be arrested with the rest of the rebels when we came out of the utility corridor. When Marty mentioned the name the Varn Society Shaper gave me, I basically panicked. I should have just kept my mouth shut. It wouldn’t have stopped what happened to me later, but at least Lili would still be alive.
Captain Barloch came up with a squad of security troopers with him. He was a creo, big, grey and heavy like they all are. I swear he… [laughs] It’s so strange the things that stick with you over the years. The one thing that always stood out for me about him was the fact that the man polished his head. It always looked like some kind of ball bearing. Anyway, he had a half-dozen troopers with him, which surprised me. The Arc was always a quiet place. Once and a while someone had a freak fit, but that usually just meant that they tried to airlock themselves or beat their head against the wall until a couple of us grabbed them and they got sedated for a trip down to Medical. You never saw more than one security trooper patrolling at a time. The only time I’d ever seen that many before was when had that big fire in one of the maintenance bays and they had to evacuate that whole sector.
Was he involved in any crimes? The whole damned station was a crime against sentients. I don’t know if he did anything personally, like kill anyone. If he ever did, I’m just as guilty.
Anyway, they come charging up and I hand over the gun to one of the troopers. They had a medic with them so the first thing they did after cuffing us both…
Yes, both of us. At the time I figured it was to cover up that I was going to be taken off the station. I was wrong of course. Anyway, after cuffing us both they slapped a nanopatch over that chest wound of his and hauled us both away to Station Security.
I don’t know what happened to his sister's body. They probably chucked it into the food recycler like everyone else’s was.
What?
TBC
